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Rules for Resolutions

It’s almost 2013, but Im still not ready to share my resolution list. I keep adding and whittling away at it. I just need to note, when I’ve asked my friends about their resolutions, they have all said “I’m so bad at following through, so why make the list. I’m just setting myself up to fail”. The point of the list isn’t to complete every task (as I certainly don’t), but by making the list it makes you aware of what your goals are. I have friends that say things like “I don’t know what I want” or “Im bored and I don’t know how to fix it” throughout the year. Just by making this list, you’re ahead in the game. Whenever I’m feeling in a rut or bored or lost, I just pull out the list and put that energy into crossing a task off the list, and that pulls me out of my rut. You certainly don’t HAVE to make a resolution list, but why not take 15 minutes and make a list of goals.

Rules For Making A Resolutions List:

1) Be Realistic With Money. Don’t make a list of goals that you know you can’t afford to complete. For example “buy myself a Fendi Bag” (BAD) should be “work to save money for a nice bag by setting a little money aside from each paycheck, and invest in a nice bag by 2014” (GOOD). Just avoid making resolutions that you know are outside your budget, because you’ll never follow through with something if you can’t afford it.

2) Be Realistic With Time. There are 365 days in 2013, and only 52 weekends. When you’re trying to complete a list of goals, those weeks go by REALLY fast. While I think it’s important to shoot for the stars with your list and be over ambitious (whatever you don’t complete can be moved on to the following years list) it’s important to be at least somewhat realistic. If you work full time “Spend 1 month in Spain” isn’t a realistic resolution. Although maybe a baby-step towards that goal is doable: “Investigate if my job would let me take time off to travel, or if there are work opportunities abroad with my job”. The goal can be to lay the groundwork, so that “spend a month abroad” can be a realistic goal for the following year.

3) Be Specific. I’ve found with me, I’m much more likely to complete a goal if the game plan to achieve it is part of the resolution. For example a goal of “See more towns outside of Los Angeles” is so open-ended that I’m less likely to take it seriously. A great alternitive is actually looking up the names of some sights to see outside of LA, and then making each location a different goal: “Visit the Elmers Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande” or “Visit the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda”. This way if you have a free Saturday, you just go to the list, google the location and then make a day trip. Plus by separating the locations you can cross more off your list (it’s such a good feeling crossing items off the list).

4) Make Some Easy… Very Easy. If all of your goals require a ton of time and dedication, you’re much more likely to fall off the wagon. It’s such a motivation to be able to cross off items from the list, so make some goals easy and extra fun. For example, I often don’t let myself eat too many sweets (gotta watch my girlish figure) but “Treat yourself to a cupcake at that shop everyone keeps telling you about” is a fun awesome resolution to throw into the mix. It’s a resolution because it’s getting you to try something new and it’s not “buy a box of cupcakes” but it’s just one, which doesn’t hurt your wallet or your waistline. For the record “Eat a bag of cheetos alone on a Saturday night” is not a resolution, but a cry for help.

5) Include That Thing You’ve Been Putting Off. I hate going to the doctors. Whether it’s eye, skin, foot, or just the regular doctor, I hate it. The resolution list is a great time to include that dreaded doctors visit. As much as I hate doing it, I can tell you “Visit a dermatologist” and “Finally buy eye glasses” are on my resolution list for 2013. Maybe for you it’s “Clean out that scary drawer full of crap” (also a good resolution). With all of these dreaded tasks, you’ll feel so good finally completing them and then you get the reward of crossing them off the list and putting them out of your mind.

Well, I hope these are helpful tips for generating your own resolution list. I know you probably think resolution lists are crap, but seriously give it a shot. In the next day or two, I will take a look back at my resolution list and see what I’ve completed over the last year. I will also finally reveal my 2013 resolution list.